Mexico Ministry of Health Outlines Steps to Fight Zika Virus

· Pablo Kuri Morales, Mexico's Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion, said that there have confirmed 272 cases in his country

· He stressed that strict monitoring of pregnant women, infected with the virus, will remain until their babies' birth

Before the next rainy season in Mexico, the Health Ministry of this country, will intensify actions to control mosquito Aedes aegypti, trasmissor vector of the zika, chikungunya and dengue virus, said Mexico's Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion, Pablo Kuri Morales.

At a press conference, he stressed that the massive campaign of "Wash, Cover, Turn and Throw" will continue and includes basic sanitation measures to eliminate mosquito breeding sites.

In addition, he said, strict monitoring of pregnant women infected with zika will remain until their delivery.

He clarified that the causal association between microcephaly and Zika virus, "does not mean that pregnancy and zika equals microcephaly." It's just a cause, and joins the group of infectious agents that cause this neurological disorder.

Dr. Kuri Morales was accompanied by the general directors of Epidemiology, Health Promotion and the National Centers of Preventive Programs and Disease Control (CENAPRECE by its initials in Spanish), of Gender Equity and of Reproductive Health, Cuitláhuac Ruiz Matus, Eduardo Jaramillo Navarrete, Jesus Felipe González Roldán and Ricardo Garcia Cavazos.

As well as representatives of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS by its initials in Spanish), Victor Hugo Borja Aburto, and the Institute of Security and Social Services for the Workers of the State (ISSSTE by its initials in Spanish), Margarita Blanco Cornejo.

He said that until today there have been recorded 272 confirmed cases of zika virus in Mexico, distributed in the states of Chiapas (132), Oaxaca (103) Michoacán (3), Nayarit (1), Nuevo Leon (4), Guerrero (14), Jalisco (4), Sinaloa (1), Tabasco (4), Veracruz (5) and Yucatan (1).

He explained that from the total confirmed cases, 75 are of pregnant women, 50 in Chiapas, 21 in Oaxaca, 1 and 3 in Jalisco and Veracruz.

In these last cases, today have been solved three pregnancies without complications associated with this virus.

Mexico's Undersecretary for Health Prevention and Promotion recalled that since May 2015, the Health Sector started the promotion, prevention and control of the mosquito that transmits zika.

In January of this year, were launched campaigns for the prevention of infection in pregnant women, and in March the technical guidelines for the care and monitoring of pregnancy and their relationship to the virus were published.

In addition, last March 6, Mexico's Minister of Health, Dr. Jose Narro Robles, started the operation of the first National Day of Vector Control in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Currently, 30 entities carry out permanent actions of prevention, control, entomological and epidemiological surveillance, and health promotion in 168 high-risk locations.

The Ministry of Health recommends:

Wash, cover and turn the containers in which water may accumulate, as buckets and bottles; and throw what do not serve to avoid accumulating this liquid. Use shirt, long sleeve pants and repellent. Keep doors and windows closed or with protection and use sleeping pavilions.

Pregnant women, in addition to following these measures should attend prenatal checkups.

We need the participation of the whole society to control the mosquito and prevent three diseases: zika, dengue and chikungunya.

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